Biometrics movies up to 1950

Betrayed by a Handprint (1908)
« L'Empreinte digitale » ou « Trahie par ses empreintes digitales »
Betrayed by a Handprint / D. W. Griffith
some interesting details from 1908
A guy is collecting handprints.
This is just for fun, to show what it is.
Later, a burglar steals some jewels. But leaves a handprint on a sheet of paper !
So we can compare with the collected handprints, and match ! Yes, I know, this is not so visible... The name seems to be written on the sheet.
The burglar is identified !
The Finger Prints (1912)
The Finger Prints / Alice Guy
She made so many films. Released December 25, 1912.
...A young detective on the case examines carefully the murdered body and finds finger prints on the white vest of the dead banker...
Fantômas III « Le Mort qui tue » (1913) The Murderous Corpse
Fantômas III « Le Mort qui tue » / Louis Feuillade
Dollon is arrested, and goes to anthropometry service.
Dollon is fingerprinted. And later, he's killed in prison.
What is doing the bad guy with Dollon's hand ?
A fingerprint is found on the neck
compared with the registered fingerprints
It took only a few second to search and match. Much faster than our supercomputers.
and match Dollon (who is dead).
Later, we learn that another fingerprint is found, and matches again !
What is it ? A kind of glove !
Here is the secret ! Fake fingerprints !
BTW, likely the very first fake fingerprint in a movie. The same idea is used in a future Fantomas movie.
Fantomas is unmasked
The Finger Print (1913)
The Finger Print / Oscar Eagle

He has more than one trick up his sleeve, however, and that is an inked cuff. One of the gamblers accidentally rubs his thumb against his rural neighbor's cuff, which has been carefully inked. The impress of his thumb is then transferred to the cards that the gambler is handling. Muntone palms the cards so accidentally marked, passes them through the window to his assistant on the outside, who compares it with the thumb marks on the handle of the curling-iron that was dropped the night of the robbery. They coincide; the link of evidence is complete.
Finger Prints (1922)
Finger Prints / Joseph Levering

No specific info, except the film's title...
Orlac's Hände (1924)The Hands of Orlac
The Hands of Orlac / Robert Wiene
Police seeking for fingerprints on the knive
and on the table
Inspector recognize Orlac's fingerprints (Whaouh !!! Even myself, it will be difficult to recognize my own fingerprints like that !)
Finger Prints (1927)
Finger Prints / Lloyd Bacon

Finger Prints is a lost film.

The film's lighthearted treatment of inept crooks and lawmen fumbling with fingerprints helped bridge sensational crime stories with humor.

(There is also a movie serial in 1931)
Blackmail (1929)
Blackmail / Alfred Hitchcock
Fingerprint
Rolled finger on a fingerprint card
High Gear (1931)
High Gear / George Stevens
A cop wants to take Mickey's fingerprint (no identification at all in fact, that's just for fun).
The Phantom of Paris (1931)
The Phantom of Paris / John S. Robertson
Rolled fingers
Comparing
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931) M le maudit
M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder / Fritz Lang
Fingerprint card
Fingerprint card
Fingerprint on a screen
From Headquarters (1933)
From Headquarters A movie showing many techniques of the scientific police in 1933.
Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting
A gun with fingeprints
Fingerprints on the gun
Dusting a glass for fingerprint
Fixing the powder with a sticker
Nobody does this now.
Fingerprints found on a safe
Matching !
The Kennel Murder Case (1933) Meurtre au chenil ou Le Mystère de la chambre close
The Kennel Murder Case / Michael Curtiz
Rolled fingers of all guys.
Comparing.
"G" Men (1935) Les Hors-la-loi
"G" Men / William Keighley
Comparing two fingerprints. Well, twice the same image, that's easy. Too easy for a movie to the FBI glory.
Big Brown Eyes (1936) Empreintes digitales
Dan is taking the glass, he suspects that it has been touched by someone he's seeking for.
Dan gives the glass to the forensic services.
After acquisition, this is the searching step in the database. Without results.
Dan shows the latent fingerprint to his girlfriend, Eve.
One fingerprint is very special : there is a scar on the thumb.
Later, Eve (who is manucurist) is using a piece of glass, accidentally covered with powder.
She cleans the piece of glass.
It's like the usual method to collect latent prints !
She sees the latent print.
BTW, the scar is not realistic. Latent print is really bad.
And realizes that the police is seeking for a man with a scar on the thumb.
Then forwards the latent print for analysis.
The Man Who Lived Twice (1936) L'homme qui vécut deux fois
The Man Who Lived Twice / Harry Lachman
Dusting...
And comparing. The same image, so it matches, sure...
You Can't Buy Luck (1937)
You Can't Buy Luck / Lew Landers
By matching partial fingerprints from the crime scene to those left by Paul at the police station, Paul is implicated in the murder and confesses.
Revealing a (stolen) fingerprint on a photo
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938)
Le Mystérieux Docteur Clitterhouse
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse / Anatole Litvak
Enroll a fingerprint card
And compare.
I Love You Again (1940) Monsieur Wilson perd la tête
I Love You Again / W. S. Van Dyke
This stupid guy touches the safe, just before the fingerprint expert tries to work...
(not identification, but well, funny and stupid, don't touch anything on a crime scene)
Meet Boston Blackie (1941)
Meet Boston Blackie / Robert Florey
Dusting for fingerprint on a playing card
And compare.
Viimeinen vieras (1941)
Viimeinen vieras / Arvi Tuomen, Ville Salmisen
fingeprint examination
Escape from Crime (1942)
Escape from Crime / D. Ross Lederman
TBC (Murray Alper is Fingerprint Man's Assistant)
The Lodger (1944) Jack l'Éventreur
The Lodger / John Brahm
Dusting for fingerprint on a glass
And compare...
a first fingerprint...
and a second, to check. Fingerprints don't match.
Later, a box...
with a fingerprint. Difficult to see.
(BTW, this is a magnificent and realistic investigation.)
Jungle Woman (1944) L'Atavisme qui tue
Jungle Woman / Reginald Le Borg
Collecting some evidence, a parfume bottle
and some more material
First fingerprint, normal size
The second is small ! But is the same. Normal, fingerprints grows and remains the same.
(BTW this is the same image, but not at the same scale. This never happens.)
Dark Alibi (1946)
Dark Alibi
It's all about a man convict because of a fingerprint.
Charlie Chan requested some fingerprint files.
Charlie Chan wants the fingerprints of everyone here. An expert is here.
A fingerprint expert will try to create a fingerprint record from fake fingerprints.
Glove with fake fingerprints.
Printing
Dusting
Removing excess
Examining
Matching ! Any expert will say that this fingerprint is a real one.
The Naked City (1948)
The Naked City / Jules Dassin
dusting for fingerprints
The Street with No Name (1948)
The Street with No Name / William Keighley
Rolled fingerprint at the police station
The Amazing Mr. X (1948) L'Incroyable Monsieur X
The Amazing Mr. X aka The Spiritualist / Bernard Vorhaus
He understood that she wanted his fingerprints
Impact (1949) Choc en retour
Impact / Arthur Lubin
A request about fingerprints. (Not so clear.)
The fingerprint card.
The Third Man (1949) Le Troisième Homme
The Third Man (Der dritte Mann) / Carol Reed
Fingerprint on a bottle
Fingerprint exam
L'échafaud peut attendre (1949) The Scaffold can wait
L'échafaud peut attendre
Impossible to find this movie.

The story hinges on the identical fingerprints of the murderer and the accused. Serge, a member of a trio of criminals, is arrested and convicted. His friend Michel, now Hélène's lover, copies Serge's fingerprints and commits another robbery, leaving Serge's fingerprints behind. Since Serge is in prison, the police are forced to admit that another thief shares his fingerprints. But Michel's robbery goes wrong, and he kills the pharmacist he was robbing. During the night, Serge escapes, and he is subsequently accused of a crime he didn't commit.